Participatory Budgeting

participatory budgeting = a democratic process in which city residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget

URL = http://www.ParticipatoryBudgeting.org

Definition

From the Wikipedia:

"Participatory budgeting is a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making, in which ordinary residents decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget. Participatory budgeting allows citizens to present their demands and priorities for improvement, and influence through discussions and negotiations the budget allocations made by their municipalities.

Participatory budgeting is usually characterized by several basic design features: identification of spending priorities by community members, election of budget delegates to represent different communities, facilitation and technical assistance by public employees, local and higher level assemblies to deliberate and vote on spending priorities, and the implementation of local direct-impact community projects.

Various studies have suggested that participatory budgeting results in more equitable public spending, higher quality of life, increased satisfaction of basic needs, greater government transparency and accountability, increased levels of public participation (especially by marginalized or poorer residents), and democratic and citizenship learning." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_budgeting)

Description

Josh Lerner:

"Low-income residents and activists in hundreds of cities around the world have designed a different way of managing public money: participatory budgeting. This is a process in which people who are impacted by a budget directly and democratically decide how it is spent. The most famous example is the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, where residents decide on municipal spending in an annual cycle of assemblies and meetings. Since Porto Alegre pioneered participatory budgeting in 1989, however, it has spread throughout the world. Most of these experiences share a common process: diagnosis, discussion, decision-making, implementation, and monitoring. First, at neighborhood assemblies, residents identify local priority needs, generate ideas to respond to these needs, and elect delegates to represent each community. These delegates then discuss the local priorities and develop concrete projects that address them, together with experts. Next, residents vote for which of these projects to fund. Finally, the government implements the chosen projects, and residents monitor this implementation. For example, if neighborhood residents identify access to medical care as a priority, their delegates might develop a proposal for a new community health clinic. If the residents approve the proposal, the city funds it. The next year, a new health clinic is built.

Roughly 1,200 cities have participatory budgets already. Several countries have passed laws making participatory budgeting mandatory for local governments. The UN and other international organizations have actively promoted it. Even the Church of England is a fan.

Why such broad support? Probably because participatory budgeting offers something for everyone. It gives residents a forum to voice their demands and resources to satisfy many of those demands. They feel more connected to their city and better able to improve their environment, and they learn a lot in the process. Low-income and marginalized residents gain the most, thanks to their high rates of participation (unlike in most consultations) and ?pro-poor' spending criteria that redistribute funds to those with the greatest needs. Social movements and community organizations get to spend less time pressuring policy-makers and more time deciding policies themselves. Regular budget assemblies even help them recruit members and build stronger community networks. For bureaucrats and economists, participatory budgeting is a way to get better information on public needs and minimize corruption. For politicians, it can provide closer links with constituents and increase their popularity." (http://trustcurrency.blogspot.com/2009/12/money-talks-how-participatory-budgeting.html)

Characteristics

1. Community members identify spending priorities.

2. Community members elect budget delegates to represent their neighborhood.

3. The budget delegates transform the community priorities into concrete project proposals.

4. Public employees facilitate and offer technical assistance.

5. Community members vote on which projects to fund.

6. The municipality or institution implements the chosen projects.

Robert Steele, paraphrasing from the Anwar Shah edited book cited below:

"Guiding Tenets Include:

+ Division of municipality into regions for easier discussion and implementation + Government-sponsored meetings throughout the year + Quality of Life Index is created to weight program toward less well off + Deliberation and negotiatiion is public + Bus caravan visits all the proposed projects before voting on them + Elected representatives vote on all the projects (open or secret) + Municipal councel is elected with two representatives from each region + Year end report is published + Everything in monitored publicly year round

+ Types of participation

- Information sharing - Consultation - Joint decision making - Initiation and control by citizen stakeholders

+ Preconditions and Enabling Factors

- Openness and democratic depth of the political and governance systems - Existence of enabling legal frameworks - Capacity for participation inside and outside government - Existence of functional and free media institutions - Willingness and capacity of government to make budget information open"

(http://www.phibetaiota.net/2008/08/participatory-budgeting-public-sector-governance/)

Examples

... of participatory budgetting, from Jay Walljasper:

Porto Alegre

"Porto Alegre, Brazil (population 1.3 million) decided to do exactly that after the left wing Workers’ Party was elected to office in 1989. They threw open the budgeting process to anyone that wanted to take part. Citizens gather in neighborhood assemblies to talk over what’s most needed in their own parts of town, and then elect representatives to advise the city council on government initiatives and financial priorities. This “participatory budget” process has been credited in lowering unemployment, improving public transit, and revitalizing poor neighborhoods." (http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2340)

Minneapolis

"Minneapolis, Minnesota embarked on a unique program two decades ago to put neighborhood groups in charge of how to spend millions of dollars each year. Activists across the city used to protest about how much municipal funding went into lavish downtown projects, while neighborhoods struggled with economic, crime, and housing issues. This led to an inspired idea: let neighborhoods themselves spend $20 million a year of the property tax revenues coming out of these taxpayer-supported downtown projects. That’s how the innovative Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) was born.

The city is divided into eighty one neighborhoods, and each was allotted a certain sum of money based on its economic needs. Communities came together in a series of meetings to discuss what could be done to improve life in their part of town. Half of the money was earmarked for housing programs, based on neighbors’ assessment of needs and their ideas for solutions. The rest of the money was available for other projects that the neighborhood would decide. Plans were then carried out by a committee elected by residents, who worked with city staff.

The Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) unleashed a tide of remarkable creativity on the part of Minneapolis residents as they conceived projects and innovations that had never before been discussed inside city hall. One community launched its own neighborhood school—a controversial idea at the time that has now become the norm throughout Minneapolis. Others refurbished business districts, improved libraries and community centers. Addressing poverty and racial injustice was part of many neighborhood’s agenda. The Neighborhood Revitalization Program, which is still underway in a scaled-back and some say less participatory form, literally changed the face of Minneapolis." (http://onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2340)

Other examples:

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Tower Hamlets Partnership is the local strategic partnership for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, UK. It was launched in November 2001, bringing together key stakeholders to work together to provide and improve services for local residents. Members of the Partnership include the Council, Police, the Primary Care Trust (National Health Service), public services, voluntary and community groups, faith communities and local businesses and residents. Tower Hamlets Partnership launched You Decide! in 2009, a participatory budgeting project designed to give local residents a say over how part of the local budget is spent. In its second year, in 2010, events in eight local areas were held and facilitated by members of the steering committee, which welcomed anyone from the local community to join. A menu of services in various service categories, including a pre-determined budget were made available to event participants in the form of a brochure. Participants were allowed to vote for and "purchase" services for their local areas. It was an iterative process of service selection and voting until the total budget for the local area was fully allocated.

More information is available on the Tower Hamlets Partnership, You Decide! website.

Discussion

Disempowerment through Political Cooptation

Josh Lerner:

"When politicians control decision-making and use it to support their own agendas, participatory budgeting can become disempowering. This danger of co-optation is particularly strong in the US. New York, Los Angeles, and other municipalities are increasingly holding consultations on city priorities, but not giving these consultations much power. Politicians and bureaucrats set the agendas, and although residents can share their opinions, they cannot make decisions. This controlled participation may look good for the city, but it rarely changes government spending. In the long run, it shows people that getting involved isn't worth the bother.

Co-optation is not the only challenge. Compared with Brazil, US cities have less urgent needs, more linguistic diversity, and fewer leftists in power. Experiences with participatory budgeting in developed countries, however, suggest strategies for adapting it to the US. Start small, with a pilot project in one neighborhood, agency, or program. Experiment with budgets in any institution that is receptive. Begin by engaging the most marginalized communities, so that they learn to play the game first. Build a bigger funding pot by attracting money from different sources. Use popular education and active facilitation to engage diverse residents and make sure that the loudest voices don't dominate. Link with existing participatory budgets for more legitimacy and fresh ideas." (http://trustcurrency.blogspot.com/2009/12/money-talks-how-participatory-budgeting.html)

Tools

YouChoose (UK) online software at http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=22436695

Key Book to Read

• Participatory Budgeting. Ed. by Anwar Shah. World Bank Publications, 2007

Review by Robert Steele:

"This is the very best book on Participatory Budgeting I could find (other than those on Puerto Alegre specifically ... For my purposes the two most important parts of the book were overview by the editor Anwar Shah (top expert with the World Bank); the guide to participatory budgeting by Brian Wampler; and the concluding appendix by Alan Folscher, on Citizen Participation and State Effectiveness, and also–very important–Preconditions and Enabling Factors for Citizen Engagement with Public Decisions. The rest of the book is regional case studies, and the CD ROM is country case studies." (http://www.phibetaiota.net/2008/08/participatory-budgeting-public-sector-governance/)

More Information

• the Journal of Public Deliberation (Volume 8, Issue 2 – 2012) presents 13 new articles on participatory budgeting, http://www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd/vol8/iss2/

1. More details at http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/146/canadianbudgeting.html
2. Wikipedia overview at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_budgeting
3. Shareable Magazine story by activist Mira Luna at http://www.shareable.net/blog/participatory-budgeting-sharing-power-over-public-resources